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CPA Board of Directors Meeting
MINUTES
May 4, 2009
Angelino’s Restaurant
Mansfield Center, CT.
Vice President Don Bordeau called the meeting to order at 6:42 pm.
Members Present: Ken Pause,MOARC; Marc Johnson, Burr Farms; Eleanor Provencal, CPA Treasurer; Ben Bowell, American Farmland Trust, George Saperstein, Tufts, Ken Alvarez, Centurion Poultry, Morris Burr, Burr Farm, Donald and Anne Bourdeau, Bourdeau Pheasant Farm, Don Domina, Central CT Coop, Bill Lipton, CCC, Lee Sweet, Warren Burrows, Groton Family Farms and Mike Darre, UConn Extension.
The minutes of March 9, were accepted as presented.
Treasurers Report: Eleanor Provencal, noted that the double entry for the Secretary of state is not a error, because one charge is the normal registration fee and the the other is the changeover from Bob Feldman to her. She also handed out the 2009 budget worksheet. She asked for the milage for those who attended Ag Day at the Capitol. She also announced that the CPA did receive $2,000 in a Joint Venture Grant from the CT Dept. of Agriculture. This money will be used to build the hen houses and do school educational programs.
Special guest Mr. Ben Bowell from the American Farmland Trust spoke to the group. His office is in Windsor, CT next to Farm Bureau. They also work with farmland alliance and do both state level and local work. He handed out a “Planning for Agriculture: A guide for Connecticut Municipalities” booklet. He explained some of the key points in the booklet. He talked about MA was setting up local town agricultural commissions in MA and how well they work. He said that there is one in CT is in Guilford. He is willing to go to individual towns to discuss this issue with local government officials and farm groups.
Sales tax Exemption update: Don Domina spoke about the iniative and said that CT Farm Bureau is also working on this issue. Farmers need to have $2,500 in income or expenses to obtain the exemption. Don Williams and Denise Merrill are supportive of this measure and we should all write to our local representative to urge them to vote to keep this exemption. It was suggest that the CPA leadership should draft a message about this issue to send to everyone on the CPA mailing list so they can contact their local representatives with some facts.
Planning for the 2009 CPA Annual Meeting (Poultry Day), Monday June 8. On May 19 there will be a planning meeting at 4 pm at UConn, in the Department of Animal Science, George White Building (in the York Room). At 3 pm Mike Darre and Eleanor will meet for tax planning. It was moved to have two separate meetings. The CPA Annual meeting will be in June and then Poultry Day will be in November.
Promotion Report:
A contest for choosing the next Egg Artist will be held at Celebrating Ag on September 26, 2009. Contestants will present their art work and visitors to the display will vote for the best egg for participation. The Celebrating Ag organizers would like to change the egg dessert contest for September into more of a general omelet and flambé making demo. For example at 11 am have the omelet demo and then some participation and then a flambé demonstration.
Woodstock, Durham and Hebron fairs all want a chick hatch set up. It was agreed that we will supply them with the basic set up while they supply the labor to man the display. We will set them up with the incubators and eggs and some basic training on how to discuss this with the public.
Gary Proctor stated that there was no Easter egg contest at the White House this past year due to the change in administration, but was hopeful that this tradition would continue next year.
Ag Education Report: Eleanor is looking for volunteers to go to their local schools and bring the chicken house and talk about poultry and a healthy diet. This is part of the project that we received funding from the state to do.
Extension Report: Mike Darre said he will be doing small flock workshops in the state over the next few months. The first one is May 30 at the Essex Library in Essex, CT starting at 10 am. He is also finalizing the Biosecurity and Pest Management Workshop for the end of June.
Adjourn at 8:35 pm
Next Meeting is June 8, the CPA Annual Meeting, in Norwich at the Mona Lisa.
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